BHADERWAH, Apr 15: At-least 26 shops, eight residential structures and several vending huts went up in flames in main market Gandoh in district Doda in a devastating blaze in the wee hours of Saturday. Property worth crores of rupees was reduced to ashes, but there was no report of any serious injuries.

Reports said that on the intervening night Friday and Saturday, main market Gandoh, located just 500 metres from the Police Station, went up in flames. The fire spread quickly before sunrise to all adjoining shops and houses, which are mostly made of dry cedar and pine wood.

The locals said that a cylinder blast also took place inside one of the shops as a result of which massive damages took place.

“The fire, which perhaps started around 1.00 AM was noticed by a patrolling team of Police and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) at 1.45 AM. They immediately raised an alarm and informed fire tenders, which reached the spot at 3.30 AM as nearest fire station is located at Thathri, 45 km from Gandoh,” said SDPO Gandoh Sunny Gupta, adding that police and SSB along with locals tried to control the flames.

"The fire is completely under control. 26 shops, six residential structures and several vendor shops, all belonging to local residents, were destroyed," the officer said, adding that the damage caused was being assessed. There was no loss of life or injury caused to anyone in the incident, he said.

Police has taken the cognizance of fire incident and started investigating, preliminary reports suggest that the fire started due to the shot circuit," SDPO said.

According to reports, five storied house of Din Mohammad Dar of Shalala, five storied house of Shamis Din of Shalala seven storied Restaurant ‘Green Top’ of Mohammad Ashaf Kholi five storied house of Abdul Latief of Dadkaie, four storied house of Abdul Qayoom of Gandoh, four storied house of Bashir Ahmed of Dharawari, another four storied house of Mohammad Sharif Khanday of Dharawari, four storied house of Tek Chand of Dharawari were completely gutted.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti has expressed grief over the fire incident at Gandoh market in Doda district in which more than 30 residential and commercial establishments were gutted early this morning. She directed Doda district administration to extend all possible help to the fire victims by way of temporary shelters and items of daily usage.

Former Chief Minister Jammu and Kashmir and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad has expressed shock and grief over the tragic fire incident in Gandoh Bhallessa of district Doda in which a large number of shops were gutted.

Expressing their deep sympathies with the families who lost their shops in the tragic fire accident, Congress leaders have asked District Development Commissioner (DDC) Doda to carry out relief and rehabilitation measures including provide free ration, tin sheets, blankets and others for the Bhallessa fire incident victims. They further urged administration for proper and timely compensation, relief for the affected families and said the government should provide every possible support to the victims so that they could not face any problem in the prevailing cold conditions.

After knowing about the fire incident, MLA Bhaderwah Daleep Singh Parihar also visited Gandoh market of Bhallessa and took stock of the damages caused to the shops and other business establishments in a late night devastating fire incident. He also assured them of every possible help and urged them to take precautions for safeguarding their properties from such mishaps in future. He said that he will provide 1 lakh rupees to each and every affected family out of his CDF fund.

He further assured that he will talk to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for opening up of fire tender services in Bhallessa as government had already sanctioned the same for the area and there is unnecessary delay in the opening of the same.

Mohammed Sharief Niaz Executive Member J&K Congress Committee and former minister has expressed great shock and grief over the loss of properties worth rupees crores due to devastating fire which broke out last night in Gondoh market Bhallessa. Niaz condemned the rude attitude of government for not opening Fire Station at centrally located place of Bhallessa inspite of repeated demand for last couple of years.

Many such incidents have occurred at different times at different places in Bhallessa causing huge loss of property of public. Recently at Malikpura Bhallessa property worth crores was lost in fire. At that time people protested against government and authorities had assured for opening of Fire Station immediately but till now no action has been taken in this regard. Now again thousands of people have sit on protest since last night at Gondoh against administration for not sanctioning Fire Station.

Naresh Kumar Gupta MLC Bhaderwah expressed shock and grief over the tragic fire incident in which 28 shops and large number of houses were gutted. Gupta expressed sympathy towards the affected families and instructed the Tehsil and district administration to provide immediate help and support to all those affected due the devastating blaze. He asked District Development Commissioner (DDC) Doda to carry out relief and rehabilitation measures including providing free ration, tin sheets, blankets and others for the Bhalessa fire incident victims.

PRO Defence, however, claimed that troops of 4 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) rescued fire-affected victims. Troops of 4RR rushed to the spot and joined the rescue operation.

SRINAGAR, Apr 15: Police today foiled a protest march by Awami Itihad Party (AIP) to Badami Bagh cantonment and detained its chairman and MLA Engineer Rasheed.
A party spokesman said the protest march was against using of a civillian Farooq Ahmad Dar as human shield by army in Beerwah recently and other human rights violations by security forces in Valley.
The march led by Rasheed started from Sonwar and moved towards Badami Bagh cantonment. However, police and CRPF stopped the march as it